At 6'1 and 245 pounds, Mark Coleman is a physically intimidating man, but even his raw strength and physical power, what is more impressive is his technical ability, and it was brought the American wrestler into the sport of mixed martial arts.
Some people credit Randy Couture with being the first great wrestler in mixed martial arts, but before the Natural ever stepped foot in the Octagon, there was Mark Coleman.
Mark Coleman won an NCAA wrestling title at Ohio State University, and after he graduated, he turned his sights on the new world of MMA.
Coleman made his MMA debut at UFC 10, a tournament format event, where Coleman defeated Moti Horensen, kickboxer Gary Goodridge and the hard headed Don Frye.
UFC 10 was the first look at what became known as the "ground and pound," a style of fighting that grapplers have used, where the goal is to control the top position and throw strikes until the opponent is no longer able to defend himself or gives up an easy submission.
While Coleman had no submission grappling backround, his incredible power and the low quality of his opponents ground game allowed him to dominate his opponents, smearing them across the mat with a combination of raw power, athleticism and sophisticated wrestling, which he used for ground control and establishing position while he pounded his opponents into a bloody mess.
Coleman then won the tournament at UFC 11 when both opponents gave up, one due to strikes and the other to a choke.
In his next fight, Coleman took on Dan "The Beast" Severn. While Severn is a UFC Hall-of-Famer, Coleman defeated the Beast, true to his dominant form, with a choke at 2:47. This matchup made him the first UFC heavyweight champion in history.
Coleman's next matchup against Maurice Smith would be a turning point in his career. The sport had begun to evolve around Coleman and his wrestling ability and power would no longer be enough to control fights. Smith beat Coleman standing up and took the UFC heavyweight title with a unanimous decision.
Coleman returned to the UFC at UFC 17, where he was KO'd by Pete Williams, and then fought again at UFC 18, where he lost a decision to then up-and-comer Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo.
After losing in the UFC, he took his wrestling skills to Japan, where he would be considered exotic and act as a representative to the Japanese MMA scene.
While Coleman lost his first fight in the Pride Fighting championships, he would dominate his next six opponents and win the 2000 Pride Open weight grand Prix. Among those fights is his neck crank win over Masaaki Satake, one of the most incredible dominations in the sport's history.
Coleman's next fight would be his first real encounter with the fighting style known as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and it would be disasterous for Coleman. Heavyweight legend and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artist Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira let Coleman take the fight to the ground and then, while Coleman gained his confidence on the top, Nogueira sunk in the sukata (or triangle choke/armbar combination) that he would become famouse for throughout his career.
Coleman's major flaw on the ground became clear, but the Hammer kept laying it on the way he always had. After beating Don Frye by unanimous decision, he fought the man who was becoming recognized as the greatest fight in the world, current Pride Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor did the same thing that Nogueira did, isolating Coleman's arm and finishing him with an armbar.
Coleman's next fight would end the way none of his fights had since fighting Pete Williams, with Coleman unconscious, as Croatian Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic knocked Coleman out at 3:40 in the first round.
The next two matches would end in other a minute, but the contreversy in his second, when opponent Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fell and broke his arm, would make Coleman feel as though he was no longer the fighter he once was.
In order to prove himself, Coleman took a fight against the heayweight king, Fedor. Fedor was coming off of a broken hand, and there were some doubts about his conditioning, but many saw Coleman as a stepping stone opponent, being used to get Fedor back to form, and that is certainly how the fight looked.
Emelianenko put Coleman in the same armlock he had used in their last fight at 1:15 in the second round, but later admitted he let the fight last longer than it did because he wanted to shake off his ring-rust.
While Coleman's return after his fight with Emelianenko is questionable, one thing is for sure, he gave the sport groundnpound, and was the first UFC heavyweight champion, and so he will always be a legend.
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